Apache OpenOffice (AOO) Bugzilla – Issue 8449
Mixed Landscape and Portrait docs difficult to manage in master doc
Last modified: 2013-02-07 22:40:02 UTC
(Using Mandrake 8.2, KDE, Laptop, 256 MB RAM...but issue exists in Mandrakes 8.0 & 8.1) Inserting a portrait layout document as an insertion or as a section causes inserted document/section to adopt master document formatting. The original document is in portrait, using one page. Inserted document is landscape, using pasted text as used on original. As separate documents, their page formatting is correct, and obvious. Inserting landscape document into portrait master doc subordinates the inserted document. This is disruptive to users who have specific documents needing to retain their original formatting. The master document should not subordinate the subsequent documents. I read somewhere how to live with this or how to change it, but it should not be for the user to endure this much effort. Pre-existing documents should be "grab, merge, print".
The subordination of sub-document settings is intended. A master document must have a consistent formatting (i.e. paragraph styles and page styles), regardless the amount of "toying" editors of the sub documents and "their favorite settings". These editors might not even know about each other. But if they use the same styles for headings (say heading 1 to heading 4), their parts will look the same after it is in the master doc. An example: Editors in the US will probably use Letter paper format while those in Europe use A4. After "composing" the master document from this, a page size mix is definately unwanted (and not too easy to print either). So if a style exists in master and sub document alike, the settings of the master document's style is used. This enables the master doc editor to change the entire layout (page size, font, font size, paragraphs indents and spacing...) of a 1000+ pages documents made of 200 sub docs with only a few clicks and this is the purpose of a word processor document: Be easy to handle regardless the size. What to do in your case: 1. You have to have a page style with "landscape" paper orientation in the master document. 2. This style must be applied to the sub doc page in question: This can be done by applying "page break [before/after] with page style 'Landscape'" to the first paragraph of that landscape page or "page break after..." on the last paragraph of the page before. So the easiest is a paragraph style at the top of the landscape page that has "page break before, with style "Landscape" set. If this paragraph style is in the master document and the sub document alike, the sub doc will happily stay "landscape" after inserting it into the master document. The master doc feature is indeed very powerful, but I admit that this is not too intuitive. I changed summary slightly (for easier cross-reading). Changed type to "Enhancement". Reassigned to Bettina.
*** Issue 21163 has been marked as a duplicate of this issue. ***
I use a report format which has mixed portrait & landscape pages within it. VERY easy to do in MS Office! A bittuva pain in OO 2.0! Sincew it's relatively common to do this, why not add this option to Page Break options as well? I will not bother to create a new style for this every time I need it. Easier to stick with MS Word.
sba, the procedure you describe to change page layout in a subdoc does not seem to work anymore in Writer 2.01! Page breaks with change in page style are ignored in the master doc. Page breaks without change in page style are not ignored. To reproduce the issue * Create a new master doc * Create a page style Landscape, set orientation to landscape * Save the master doc as "master.odm" * Create a new document * Create a page style Landscape, set orientation to landscape * Type "Portrait page" * Insert - Manual Break - with change in page style: landscape (alternatively: Format Paragraph - text flow tab) * Type "Landscape page: manual break with change in page style" * Insert break without change in page style (Ctrl+Enter) * Type "After page break without change in page style" * Save the doc as "test.odt" * Now insert the doc into the master document. The sentence "Landscape page" just appears on a new line: the page break with change in page style has been ignored, yet the Landscape page style does exist in the Master doc as well. The manual page break without change in page style is not ignored. Therefore, it has become inpossible to mix different page styles in a single subdocument (except from changing the page style through paragraph styles, but then we may need to apply a different paragraph style with the sole purpose of changing a page style, which doesn't sound right).
I think I have something to add this page orientation problem. I checked issues 24474, 7894, 8449 and 42790. They all refer to this page orientation problem. I added a concrete testcase to issue 46917, check that out if that is answer to this issue.
any progress to this issue?
The same problems persist in 2.3.0. Changing page orientations after several manual page breaks will change orientation either in one pages or in several pages. Same problems.
The same problems persist in 3.1.0. Test 1: Same problem TEST 1 info: - WIN XP SP 2 + latest updates - OOo 3.1.0 - OOO310m11 - build 9399 - Finnish Language Pack: OOo_3.1.0rc2_20090427_Win32Intel_langpack_fi.exe Test 2: Same problem TEST 2 info - PCLinuxOS LXDE.2009.4 - OOo 3.1.0 - OOO310m11 - build 9399 - there is also mentioned that Build 3.1.0.5 - Finnish OpenOffice added - Finnish OpenOffice updated - updates by PCLinuxOS package manager, not by me. Test 3: Same problem TEST 3 info - Debian 5 - OOo 2.4.1 - open-office.core. 1:24.1+dfsg-1 - Wed Mar 25 21:25:25 UTC 2009 - updates by package manager, not by me. The problem is the same.
To grep the issues easier via "requirements" I put the issues currently lying on my owner to the owner "requirements".